DotA, Team Fortress, and more: How Game Mods Have Shaped Videogames

Many people may not be aware of this, but game modifications (mods) have helped shape the current gaming world. In fact, many of today’s top played games are based on mods. A mod is a fan/player made modification to an existing game or game engine that can either change the way a game is played, its content, or even create a whole new game. One of the best examples of this is Team Fortress. Before Valve commissioned a Team Fortress game, the now popular first-person shooter was a mod on the original Quake engine. It practically created the class-based shooter, making it one of the most important mods ever. And the people who made it were then hired by Valve, and created Team Fortress Classic, and eventually Team Fortress 2, one of the most widely played PC games. Actually, Valve seems to take a lot of interest in mods, as they are now developing Defense of the Ancients 2, better known as DotA 2.

League of Legends is a Free-to-Play DotA clone

DotA was originally a mod forWarcraft 3, and was popular for a very long time. However, the importance behind DotA is that it created a new genre of games, the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena). While the original DotA does not see nearly as many players now as it used to, many games that follow the same format, such asLeague of Legends, have become immensely popular. But why does this matter? Modding games can be fun and can change a game. Many game companies encourage modding, while others are too worried about their games being pirated to allow the resources for modding to be compatible with their games. However, no company should do this, and here is the perfect example as to why.

Day-Z. This zombie survival mod for Arma II, a game that most people probably haven’t heard of, is the sole reason for the game having a sudden increase in sales by over 500,000 copies of the game. The mod involves people fighting zombies, and possibly each other, and has become so popular, that the creator has been commissioned to make it into a standalone game. This, to say the least, is impressive. The standalone may sell more copies than Arma II, but they sure as hell helped the sales for that franchise. And not only that, but it makes the players happy. So, in short, mods can be awesome, not only for the player, but for game companies and the gaming industry.

Wonderful blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any user discussion forums
that cover the same topics discussed in this article? I’d
really like to be a part of community where I can get suggestions from other knowledgeable people that
share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Many thanks!

<p>Wonderful blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics discussed in this article? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get suggestions from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Many thanks!</p>